Evangelical Resources

Authenticity and Truth

1:31 pm | Emergent Church | NeoPaganism

Recently, Andrew Jones’ son got a mohawk. Andrew’s comment was “15 years old and all conformed into scottish youth culture.” Apparently, being real and authentic has been reduced to the kind of hair cut one has. If you have a cool haircut, and work very hard to fit in with the culture around you (rather than being radically counter-culture) then you are being real and authentic.

At the same time, the son of another prominent blogger was posting on his blog about authenticity. On his blog entry “Keepin’ it Real, or Not“, he lamented:

“I’ve noticed the trend in pop culture of fake reality, fake authenticity, etc. The most obvious example is the highly-scripted “reality” television show, where the end result is decided beforehand. But dig a bit deeper. T-shirts are sold with pre-cracked, pre-worn lettering to make them seem vintage when they’re really new. … That’s what many people want, so ConglomoCorp tries to fake it.”

“But that can’t be the only source. Look at the ads: “Lysol: That’s a fact” is a perfect example of the devaluing of real truth. A lot of teenagers say “just kidding” for any untrue statement they make, be it an honest mistake, an outright lie, or anything in between.” …

“You’ve all heard of the word “truthiness,” I take it. “The quality of stating concepts one wishes or believes to be true, rather than the facts.” The mere existence of such a coinage is just one more illustration of how fewer and fewer people care about authenticity.”

Who was it who stated this? Was it a critic of the emerging church? Was it a disgruntled Christian blogger? No - not at all. It was ArthurLB, the son of the prominent Druid and critic of Christianity, Isaac Bonewits. How is it that the son of a Neo-Pagan understands the relationship of truth and authenticity better than those in the emerging church?

Authenticity is not as simple as a haircut, clothing style, or even drinking the right cup of coffee. It comes from Living the Truth even when the rest of the culture is (in Václav Havel’s words) living within the lie. Authenticity is achieved at the moment when people stop playing by the rules of the cultural game, thereby exposing it as a game, and choose instead Live the Truth regardless of the dictates of culture.

The critique of the emerging church by Phillip Johnson (not the John MacArthur guy - the Missiologist in Australia) is also true: the emerging church is dangerously behind the curve in understanding the cultural impact of esoteric spiritualities in pop culture.

In addition to his many comments on esoteric spiritualities that are worth noting, he also made this comment on his blog:

“The festivals have largely ceased to be the meeting places for the crack-disciplined seekers, instead devolving into commercial operations with commodified goods and services. It is basically now as EC people have finally latched on to outreach in festivals that they have arrived at a time when the serious is less obvious and the “fluff” tends to predominate. The problem here is if one forms impressions based on the fluff at a festival then you are only going to see a superficial expression of a deeper and permanent shift in culture.”

The emerging church has it’s own lines of books and merchandising that now provide the momentum of the movement. Specially marketed books have replaced “conversation” and “dialogue” as the primary social markers of the movement. Charity has taken a back seat in the emerging blogs to vitriolic attacks upon critics who make legitimate observations and express genuine concerns. Style, superficiality, and shallowness have triumphed over profound spiritual insights into culture. The “cool,” “relevant,” and “postmodern” emerging folks now ostracize people from the church that are “uncool”, “not relevant,” or are arbitrarily cast as “modern.” In the name of “inclusiveness” and “charity,” the emerging church shuts out voices that it finds impossible to tolerate. Is it any wonder that I consider myself an outcast from the conversation? That I consider myself post-emergent?

Today I am in Kansas City visiting my parents. Tomorrow morning I will be driving to Elgin, IL to attend the Cornerstone Festival. But before I do, I think I will re-read Václav Havel’s short essay “Thriller” which seems to capture my thoughts very well at the moment.